Agent of the Deity! Offspring of eternity, Guider of the steeds of time Along the starry track sublime, Founder of each wondrous art, Mover of the human heart; Since the world's primeval day All nature has confessed thy sway.
They who strive thy laws to find Might as well arrest the wind, Measure out the drops of rain, Count the sands which bound the main, Quell the earthquake's sullen shock, Chain the eagle to the rock, Bid the sun his heat assuage, The mountain torrent cease to rage. Spirit, active and divine-- Life and all its powers are thine! Guided by the first great cause, Sun and moon obey thy laws, Which to man must ever be A wonder and a mystery, Known alone to him who gave Thee sovereignty o'er wind and wave And only chained thee in the grave!
Oh nature! though the blast is yelling, Loud roaring through the bending tree, There's sorrow in man's darksome dwelling, There's rapture still with thee!
I gaze upon the clouds wind-driven, The white storm-crested deep; My heart with human cares is riven-- O'er these--I cannot weep.
'Tis not the rush of wave or wind That wakes my anxious fears, That presses on my troubled mind, And fills my eyes with tears;
I feel the icy breath of sorrow My ardent spirit chill, The dark--dark presage of the morrow, The sense of coming ill.
I hear the mighty billows rave; There's music in their roar, When strong in wrath the wind-lashed wave Springs on the groaning shore;
A solemn pleasure in the tone That shakes the lonely woods, As winter mounts his icy throne 'Mid storms and wasting floods.
The trumpet of the angry blast Peals loud o'er earth and main; The elemental strife is past, The heavens are bright again.
And shall I doubt the healing power Of Him who lives to save, Who in this dark appalling hour Can silence wind and wave?
Almighty Ruler of the storm! One beam of grace display, And the fierce tempests that deform My soul, shall pass away.
The spirit of the shower, Of the sunshine and the breeze, Of the dewy twilight hour, Of the bud and opening flower, My soul delighted sees. Stern winter's robe of gray, Beneath thy balmy sigh, Like mist-wreaths melt away, When the rosy laughing day Lifts up his golden eye.--
Spirit of ethereal birth, Thy azure banner floats, In lucid folds, o'er air and earth, And budding woods pour forth their mirth In rapture-breathing notes. I see upon the fleecy cloud The spreading of thy wings; The hills and vales rejoice aloud, And Nature, starting from her shroud, To meet her bridegroom springs.